Valyn ignored her. “Talal, start talking. Quick.”

The leach hesitated a moment, then began haltingly: “Wasape ebibitu—”

“You killed my wasape,” the woman said, cutting him off, indicating the sprawled corpse with her chin. “Do not savage my language.”

That she spoke the Annurian tongue was something of a surprise, but it meant Valyn could handle the negotiation himself. As the woman spoke, other figures had emerged from the two api, some wearing leather riding breeches and rough tunics, others bare-chested. As Valyn had hoped, they numbered just half a dozen. Ten with the kids and the dead man.

“He attacked us,” Valyn said, indicating the corpse. “We killed him only in defense.”

The woman considered the body for a moment, then shrugged. “There are other warriors to warm my nights.”

To her right, a young man growled something incomprehensible. He had a knife in each hand, and from the way he was crouched forward, looked eager to try his luck.

“Annick . . .” Valyn began.

“I’ve got him,” she replied.

The Urghul woman looked at the sniper, then turned to her companion, uttering a few curt words.

He snapped something angry in response, waved a knife at the Kettral, then spit full in her face.

Without blinking, the naked woman pivoted, slamming her arrowhead through his throat. She held it there firmly as the dying man dropped his knives, clutched at the wooden shaft, then released it as he crumpled. She considered the body for a moment, then turned to the other Urghul. Valyn caught the words for chief, dead, and challenge. She spread her arms wide as if inviting attack from her own people, evidently indifferent to her own nakedness, the biting wind, and the Kettral Wing a few paces away. Only when the other Urghul had nodded did she turn back to Valyn.

“I am Huutsuu,” she said. “Wohkowi of this family. Do we fight or do we eat?”

“I think I’m in love,” Pyrre said appreciatively. “I hope I don’t have to kill her.”

Valyn stared at the Urghul. If the lack of guards, the motley weapons, or the two newly dead men on the grass were anything to go by, they were hardly masters of military tactics. On the other hand, the woman showed no fear of her own death, nor any remorse over the bodies before her. She waited, arms spread, for his response.

“We eat,” Valyn said finally. “I regret your . . . men.”

Huutsuu shrugged. “Men would have killed you. These two . . .” She waved the bow in their direction. “Fools.”

“Nonetheless,” Valyn said, uncertain how to proceed in the absence of any sort of grief or anger, “we would avoid fighting.”